Rails and ladders

A minecart can cross a gap on a line of tripwire or climb a wall lined with ladders. An ordinary ladder can also hang below another ladder without a wall behind it. These builds use familiar items, but each has a particular way to start and stop.

Zip rails: carry a minecart across a gap

Make a taut tripwire line with tripwire hooks at its ends and string between them. Put a minecart directly under an attached hook to catch the line. The cart travels in the direction that hook faces: a hook facing east sends it east along the string, while one facing west sends it west. Passenger carts and other minecart types can use it.

At the far end, the opposite hook can start a cart in the return direction. Test both entrances before building a station around them. A loose string line will not carry a cart: the tripwire must be attached. You can feed a cart from regular rails under a hook and let it continue on rails after the line.

Vertical rails: lift a cart with ladders

Place ordinary ladders up a wall, then feed a minecart into the bottom of that ladder column. A cart inside the ladders rises automatically; arrange regular rails at the top to carry it onward. The ladder's facing gives the cart a small push toward the wall as it climbs.

This is an upward lift. Build a separate route for the return trip, and test the transition at the top with an empty cart before sending cargo or a passenger.

Rope ladders: extend ladders downward

Start with a ladder fixed to a block. Hold more ordinary ladders and use one on the hanging end of the ladder column. Each use extends the column downward, including through open air where a vanilla ladder would have no support. Bring one ladder item for each section you want to add.

If you break a hanging ladder, the unsupported ladders below it also break and drop as items. Break the top to pull down the whole hanging run. This makes a deep shaft easy to clear, but it also means you should leave the top attached while anyone is climbing.

See also

• Paths and trails for ground routes that form as you walk
• Waystones for travel between named stops
• Travel overview for other ways around the world